Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County broke ground Thursday on its first-ever townhome development, a seven-unit project planned for 509 Jenkins St. in Greenville's historic Sterling neighborhood. The organization is calling it the Baxter-Norris Villas, and leaders say it is designed to give working families a path to homeownership in a part of the city where rising prices have made that increasingly difficult.
According to Greenville Journal, the development will include seven two- and three-bedroom townhomes aimed at families earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income. It marks a shift for the nonprofit, which has traditionally built single-family homes but is now leaning into multifamily construction. Habitat Greenville President and CEO Latonya Phillips said the organization has shifted its focus to multifamily development as a more versatile way to create affordable housing in today's economy, per the same report.
The project traces back to a partnership with the city of Greenville, Phillips said. In 2021, the city removed two vacant homes from the Jenkins Street property to make way for future affordable housing, and it deeded the parcel to Habitat Greenville in 2022. The nonprofit was awarded the project after studying potential multifamily housing options suited to the narrow site, the Journal reports.
Naming the Project After Sterling's Own
The Sterling Neighborhood Association selected the name Baxter-Norris Villas for the development, honoring Peggy Baxter, Habitat Greenville's director emeritus, and Xanthene Norris, a former Greenville County councilmember. Both women grew up in the Sterling neighborhood and graduated from Sterling High School, according to the Journal's reporting.
Greenville City Councilmember Dorothy Dowe said Baxter and Norris are deeply connected to Sterling and that their legacies will endure on Jenkins Street and in homes for seven families, the outlet notes. Phillips echoed that sentiment, saying the seven families who move in will have an affordable mortgage along with growing equity and stability to plan ahead.
Construction Timeline and Fundraising
Habitat Greenville is currently raising $1.7 million to build the Baxter-Norris Villas. Infrastructure work on the site is expected to continue over the next several months, with vertical construction planned to begin in April 2027. Phillips said the organization hopes the first families will move into the townhomes around October 2027, per the Journal's account.
Phillips said rising housing prices are making it harder for families in historic neighborhoods such as Sterling to stay in or move into the community, a dynamic that has shaped the urgency behind the project. The nonprofit's own messaging, posted on Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County's website, states plainly that housing is more expensive now than it has ever been.
A Broader Push in Sterling
The scale of the local housing need is significant. Monroe Free said the need for affordable homes in the Greenville area is in the tens of thousands, according to WSPA. That same report quoted Greenville City Council Member Lillian Brock Flemming saying signs of gentrification are becoming more apparent in the Sterling Community. An earlier WSPA report on the project had described it as providing at least five new housing units, while the Journal's groundbreaking coverage puts the final count at seven townhomes.
Baxter-Norris Villas is not the only affordable housing effort underway in Sterling. Joshua's Way, an 11-home project involving Homes of Hope and Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County, is also located in the neighborhood, according to the Upstate Business Journal. Separately, Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County is building 29 homes in the city's Nicholtown community, primarily along McCullough Drive, as part of a broader initiative to increase Black homeownership, the same outlet reports. The nonprofit also collaborates with Furman University's Shi Center for Sustainability on repair and weatherization work that aids an additional 25 to 35 families each year.
Habitat Greenville recently marked its 40th anniversary by completing its first duplex project, the Journal notes, making Baxter-Norris Villas the latest step in the organization's move toward denser, multifamily housing models. For now, the Jenkins Street site sits at the start of a roughly year-long build, with the Sterling neighborhood watching to see whether seven families will indeed be settling into new homes by next fall.
